The chase to recoup tariff payments made to the U.S. government under the overturned International Emergency Economic Powers Act is trickling down the supply chain.
Even before FedEx Corp. sued the Trump administration on Monday for a “full refund” of money collected under a series of broad presidential tariff orders deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court, a FedEx customer filed a class-action suit against FedEx (NYSE: FDX) for breach of contract and seeking a refund of IEEPA duties with interest.
Hali Anastopoulo, a freight forwarder and customs broker based in South Carolina, is seeking more than $5 million in repayment of duties, interest and related costs for herself and more than 100 other putative defendants, according to a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina. A companion complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for Western Tennessee.
The lawsuit seeks to claw back money related to the Trump administration’s elimination of the de minimis exemption, which allowed goods under $800 in value to enter U.S. commerce duty free and with minimal customs processing. The White House ended the trade privilege for small-dollar imports from China and Hong Kong in May and for the rest of the world in August.
FedEx retroactively billed Anastopoulo and other customers for additional duties weeks after they received shipping orders from foreign e-commerce websites and tendered parcels with the carrier, according to the legal filing. After the tariffs were imposed, FedEx began adding surcharges to shipping invoices at the time of booking
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping global tariffs, including for de minimis shipments, under IEEPA, striking down a key tenant of his trade agenda. The administration justified the tariffs by citing the influx of synthetic opioids and the trade deficit as national emergencies. The Court did not clarify what should happen to the more than $130 billion already collected, leaving open the possibility that the government could owe importers an estimated $175 billion in refunds. There are many questions about whether companies can get their money back from the government, how the refund process will work and when refund requests need to be made.
“As a result of that decision, the tariffs defendant relied upon to impose charges on plaintiff and class members were unlawful, invalid, and void. … The shipping contracts authorize defendant to collect and pass through only lawful duties, taxes, or governmental charges actually owed in connection with importation,” the lawsuit said.
Company officials in September said new tariffs could eat into profits during the current fiscal year by up to $1 billion.
FedEx’s stock was up nearly a point to $386.67 per share in late afternoon trading.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at [email protected].
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